Why dogs fight – or what’s with sibling rivalry
Why Dogs Fight and How To Fix It
Let’s examine why dogs fight in the first place. Sometimes I don’t believe people think about some important considerations when they get that second, third or fourth dog.
Here’s a list of why dogs fight.
- Competition for resources, including your attention
- Status-related conflicts – that would be housemates of the same sex fighting over social status
- An initial poor introduction to each other
- One dog having established territory and resenting the other as an intruder
- Redirected aggression – the dogs really want to go after the mailman or the dog next door, but are prevented from doing so and therefore turn on each other in frustration.
Remember, dogs are pursuing aggression, not because they are not “nice”, but because aggression is:
- Working for them to get them something they think they need i.e. access to resources (food, space, articles of play and attention from you), status etc.
- Working to keep someone or something away they desperately want kept away i.e. a housemate who would otherwise strike first
- Simply a result of the dogs’ chemical arousal level being very high and their having learned to get release by turning on their housemates.
So, what are the solutions to dogs fighting? Here are some to try, but before any of these exercises are attempted, be sure that all dogs have a solid foundation in their basic obedience: stay, sit, down, come and off. Make it clear to the dogs that they will both be generously rewarded for displaying socially compatible behavior. Ok, here’s the list to address dog fighting:
- Ignoring each other- put them in sits or downs parallel to each other (not facing each other which is a conflict position) and reinforce/reward them for ignoring each other.
- Sharing your attention- or anyone else’s attention – Put both dogs in a sit near you. Pet one, then feed that one. Then feed the other dog for tolerating your interactions with the first dog
- Remaining non-reactive with each other Put one dog in a sit or down stay. Pet the other dog and make a fuss over him. Reward the first dog for tolerance and remaining in place. Then reverse the exercise
- Train regularly on sits and downs with both dogs, again never putting them facing each other (a conflict position).
- Release the dogs and allow them to interact, praising them for good behavior.
These procedures for addressing dogs fighting, gives the dogs structure, explains your expectations of them in each other’s presence, while at the same time manufacturing a pleasant experience around each other.
If you are having issues, try my suggestions. The first rule is ” always control the situation/environment”, that is, dogs on leashes and or muzzles (if required). All dogs and people should be safe in any training exercise.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Consult with an experienced trainer/behaviorist that uses positive reinforcement methods and has the depth of training experience to understand how to address dog fighting. One size fits all dog training does not competently address issues like this.
Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette
Posted in dog behavior
June 5th, 2009 at 1:16 am
Hi, I have 3 dogs and they get along really well (2 female and 1 male) but one of the dogs hate other dogs (that she doesnt know) and fights any dog that it meets. We worry when we walk her that she will attack another dog. Why would she do this??
June 5th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Could be a couple of things: lack of early socialization of this dog to non-family dogs, lack of on-going socialization of this dog to non-family dogs.
It could also be a display of territoriality by this dog towards other dogs based on you or whomever is walking the dog.
Best solution is to find a positive reinforcement trainer to help you help your dog with this issue. Do not continue to set the dog up to fail by putting the dog in this situation until you can get help with training.
July 1st, 2009 at 7:40 pm
I have two female poms who are sisters from the same litter. One is named Momo and the ohter is named Sneek. Every time I pick up Sneek and touch Momo, Sneek starts growling and barking which makes Momo bark and growl back. This also happend when I go to touch Momo Sneek will run up to her and start growling. It does get to the point where they fight and I separate them. Somethimes they do not fight but instead they will mount each other. I do not know if they are doing this for my attention or from dominence.
July 5th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I have two pitbulls. They both just turned two. Our male is about a month older than our female. They are both intact. Today they got into a fight over a bone. They have never done this before and it was a real fight. now I can’t get them to get along! Does anyone have any positive advice to give me? We love our dogs and just want to fix the problem. Thank you.
July 6th, 2009 at 8:05 am
To both Maralee and Mill:
Leadership role on your part is the issue on both of these comments. If your dogs truly believed you and other family members were the leaders the “issue” between your dogs would be moot or very small. Also Maralee when you have an intact male and an non-spayed female hormones play a big part in how they view each other. But again, leadership, structure and training are essential to having dogs get along with each other
July 11th, 2009 at 11:41 am
I have two female poms who are sisters from the same litter. One is named Momo and the ohter is named Sneek. Every time I pick up Sneek and touch Momo, Sneek starts growling and barking which makes Momo bark and growl back. This also happend when I go to touch Momo Sneek will run up to her and start growling. It does get to the point where they fight and I separate them. Somethimes they do not fight but instead they will mount each other. I do not know if they are doing this for my attention or for dominence. Can you please help?
July 16th, 2009 at 9:08 am
I have two english bulldogs (one male and one female). They are from the same litter and have been raised together since they were puppies. They have started fighting, and the fights are real fights. They are actually hurting eachother extensively. They do not fight over food or toys so my only guess is they are fighting to establish dominance. Their fights are very difficult to break -up and i have been bitten breaking up the fights on many occasions. I need real help to control this situation, any advice?
July 16th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Ashlee, once you have more than one dog you have a “pack”. Leadership role on your part is even more critical when you have multiple dogs.
If the fights are not over food, toys or space then you should look at a couple of things:
1. medical issues – low thyroid can cause aggression in dogs –simple, relative inexpensive blood test.
2. ruling out medical – if they perceived you as their true leader and they are required to earn the things
that are important to them i.e. food, space, toys, your attention and affection then you are consistently
reinforcing your leadership role and their place in the pecking order which is LAST
3. Make sure you are managing their energy correctly with structured walks, if they only way they get exercise is playing then you have missed an opportunity to display leadership in their exercise
routine.
4. Training, training, training. Leadership, leadership, leadership
Hope this helps.
July 18th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
I moved 7 months ago, about 400 miles north with my 21 yr old son. My 6-1/2 yr old lab mix has always, and still does love children and the attention. She’s always been a pussy cat. Today she and another dog, an American Bulldog, that have been friends for months had a loud, aggressive fight. The other dog is about 1-1/2 years old and got spade about a week ago. We noticed our dog’s change in behavior 2 days after the other dog was spade. Does this have anything to do with the other dog getting fixed? Is it stress from the move? She loves living in a cooler area. I’m a little worried. Any chance you have an idea what’s going on with her?
July 19th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Carrie: this could be a number of things, but based on the limited info you gave me it could be because you dog sensed the other dog was weak(due to recently being spayed) and chose to go after her. It could also be increased territoriality over you. It could be a number of things but no matter what it is, LEADERSHIP is the beginning and ending point in fixing any behavioral issue.
August 3rd, 2009 at 6:19 pm
I have two dogs, an 8 year old cocker spaniel and a 2 year old dalmation. They have both been very well behaved and have always got along. However about two weeks ago, they started fighting. Now it won’t stop. What should we do? It really makes me nervous that they will start fighting when we are not home, leaving no one here to stop the fight.
August 3rd, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Caroline: With the limited info I have, it could be a couple of things. Your older dog could be ill and your younger dogs smells/senses it and that is causing the young dog to attack the older dog.
If could also be not enough leadership role on your part and they feel they have to “duke it out” to see who is running the show.
But since this is relatively new check the health of your older dog.
Let me know what happens.
August 20th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Hi Jim, I have two female dogs Yoshi (4 1/2) and Rem (6). They’ve been together since I got Yoshi at 5 months old. I just moved into a new, bigger house in June and since then the fights have broken out. They have gotten into fights before, but always when Yoshi would whine in pain, and Rem would pounce on her. In the last 3 months, they have fought about 6 times. Last night, I came home to find a huge gash on Rem’s head. This is the first time I’ve been aware of a fight happening when no one was home.
I can’t recognize who is the alpha between them, because they both illustrate dominant behavior towards one another. I did start getting back on their exercise routine but in the past few days, neglected it.
I hate to even consider this, but I’m thinking about finding a new home for Yoshi to prevent further damage to them both.
They both went through a lot of training when they were young, but I’d be lying if I said I keep them mentally stimulated these days.
Please, please, PLEASE give me some advice. I’m going to actively do what you mention in this article. But do you think that will prevent them from fighting even when I’m not home?
I really don’t want to give away one of my best friends, but I don’t know what else to do.
August 29th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I have brother/sister Pitbull dogs who are three (they have been togther since birth). I also have a rottweiller who is 8 years old. Recently the pitbulls have begun to fight one another, when they get excited. These fights turn real and leave marks and injuries on one another. My husband and I have to break up the fights and then the dogs are fine with one another again (laying with and licking one another). The fights were sporadiac but have recently become more frequent (every other day). They never attempt to fight with my Rottweiller or anyone in the family, just each other. I have tried every piece of advise offered but nothing works.
September 5th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Hello Jim,
I came across your site through google. You’ve provided some wonderful information, so thank you.
I have an additional question for you, though…
I own two labs, which I’ve had since they were puppies: a 3 year old male and a 2 year old female. Generally they’re great friends. However, the other night the female attacked the male who had come up to us while I was petting her. I’m assuming that this had something to do with her wanting my attention.
They haven’t fought since. I’m able to walk them side by side twice a day, and they’re more than willing to play fetch with each other.
Yet, when they’re in the house they will not pay attention to one another. Before they used to lay curled up together; now they plop down on opposite sides of the room. Before the would lick one another as they walked by; now they go out of their way to circle around one another. The female will also raise her hackles sometimes if the male comes near her.
I’m saddened by this and was hoping you might have some suggestions. I know they’re dogs, and I can’t force them to be friends–it’s just that they were such great buddies before.
They have fought in the past (though it’s been close to a year and a half) and have always managed to get over it…
Thanks so much for your time!
Amy
September 24th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Hello,
I’m hoping you can help me or give me any suggestions. My name is Cynthia. I have 3 dogs…two female Queensland heelers a red one and a blue one and one male shitzu/maltese mix. I’ve been having problems with my blue female Queensland heeler
( she’s about 5 months and not fixed yet) and my 2 year old male shitzu/maltese which is fixed. The female heeler has become really aggressive towards my male shitzu/maltese, they have gotten into several fights. I’ve had to pull my female heeler off my shitzu during the fight because she won’t let go of him and has him in her mouth and swings him like a rag doll. It’s been really scary each time and I just don’t know what to do. My husband and I don’t want to get rid of any of them, but we are very afraid that my heeler will end up killing my male shitzu/maltese. Is getting rid of one of them my only option? Or is there still hope? I just don’t understand what’s going on…we’ve had the blue heeler since she was a pup and was raised with my other 2 dogs and I haven’t had problems in until recently. They use to get along great. Can you please help me?
Thanks for your time,
Cynthia
September 27th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Hi,
I have two male, desexed, 10month old Brittany Spaniels. They are constantly fighting with each other, over nothing and everything, I split them up, but as soon as they are together again, they start fighting again, and they don’t listen t me when they are fighting. I’m at the end of my tether, any help?
October 1st, 2009 at 11:48 am
[...] I wrote a post on this blog on Why Dog’s Fight months ago, here’s the link: sibling rivalry why dog’s fight [...]
October 4th, 2009 at 2:39 am
I have 4 dogs. 1 male boxer, 2 female boxers, and a female Mixed Lab. One of my female boxers and the lab have been getting into big fight that are getting worse. the fights started after my other female boxer had a litter. before that they had live together for a year and a half. what should i do. i feel it might be the best thing to do is find another home for one if not both of them
November 18th, 2009 at 12:34 am
I have a 3 year old yellow lab/malamute mix (Lucy.) We have recently taken in her sister from the same litter (Leah.) They know each other and were around each other a lot growing up. Her sister was never trained and only knows how to sit. She is constantly fighting with her sister. It starts out playful but will increasingly become more agressive. Lucy will try to seperate herself from Leah but Leah just will not stop. My husband and I try whatever we can to try and calm her down. I guess our issue is that we are not sure how to train her to listen to us and not to be so agressive all the time. Both dogs get plenty of excercise but Leah just will not stop! I am assuming she is just trying adjust to living with us and is desperate for all of our intention as she was the only dog in the other household, but it’s getting to be too much! Hoping for some help! Thank you!
November 20th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Kaleena:
Although I haven’t met your dog, building structure in your home to provide your dogs with strong leadership is an important starting point.
Work on sits and downs regularly with both dogs and especially Lucy to give them both a sense of working for leadership rather than feeling responsible for it themselves.
While you are home, keep Lucy on a line or leash in your home to prevent fight incidents.
You will be surprised how much mileage you can get out of leashing your dog in the house.
Click and treat for neutral or positive behavior with Leah and time her out in her crate for inappropriate behavior.
Let me know how it goes
November 27th, 2009 at 2:09 am
I have 2 female Alaskan Malamutes, one 7 years the other 4 1/2 years old. They have been together since puppyhood and have gotten along extremely well until last month. They had been playing for about 15 minutes when all of a sudden a fight broke out. They went at it for several minutes before my husband and I were able to break it up. They each had puncture wounds around their faces and ears. They avoided each other for a few days. The younger one made several attempts to play with the older one and finally after about 6 days they played a little bit with each other. 8 days after the first fight they got into it again while running in the woods. I was unable to see who started the fight either time. The older dog has always been more dominant and has had fights with our 3rd and oldest female that is now 13. We keep them separated. But our 7 year old has always gotten along with the younger one and they have played so well together since the first day they were together. I have kept the younger two separated since the last fight as it resulted in a visit to the vet for more puncture wounds that needed to be treated. They stay in crates that are right next to each other and they do not show aggression to one another but I have noticed some troublesome stares and body language. My husband and I have always walked them separately due to a problem with stray dogs in our area. This week we have started trying to walk with them together. The first attempt did not go well. They both went at each other. We had muzzles on them so prevented any injuries. We made them do a down stay until they both calmed down, then finished the walk. We are still attempting this and tried it without the muzzles today because they seem to make the dogs too frustrated. They did better but we kept enough distance so they could not get to each other should they decide to try. I’m worried that the dogs have decided to hate one another, for reasons I absolutely do not understand. They were such good friends for so long and my heart is broken to see them this way. I know it is not unusual for same sex Malamutes to fight but I also know they are pack oriented and wonder how they could work as teams pulling sleds, yet have so much trouble getting along? How can they get along so well for so long then turn on one another so quickly and vehemently? It kills me to think these two good buddies will have to be separated for the rest of their lives. I’m afraid I will have to implement the “boot camp” regiment along with what we have already been doing. Do you have any other suggestions that could help these two girls to get along again?
Appreciate your input,
Patti Hord
November 30th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Patti:
Walks should be 30-45 min twice a day instead of your 15 minutes. And, they should be structured walks – by your side on the first and last thirds of the walk with free, unstructured time in the middle to sniff-pee-poop-etc. On your 2/3’s of the walk you exercise yourself, your dog and your leadership skills. The message to your dog is, “you still get to do your doggie thing but it’s on my schedule- not yours.”
There is more you can do. Re-institute your boot camp on a permanent basis. If you approach it correctly, there would be no need to feel as though you are penalizing yourself or the dogs with hard-lined structure that seems like an eternal boot camp. Just be consistent with your earn-to-learn program. Everything they get must be earned with a sit and down. I would also put leashes on them in the house while they are out together so that you can control them better. I would also consider using gentle leaders on walks and in the home for training sessions to begin your desensitization program doing the exercises I suggested in my blog on “sibling rivalry.” This is of course barring no medical problems which should be ruled out before undergoing behavior modification of any kind.
Once both dogs are doing the exercises OK with gentle leaders and leashes on, then I would put muzzles on them for the exercises in the house – leashes attached with your goal of getting them off leash eventually – then off muzzles. You should be prepared for this to take some time. Keep them off all furniture for a while and reinstitute the couch privilege in about 3-4 weeks and use it as an exercise for training. Allow one dog on the couch after doing a sit and down followed by the command “Up!” Require the other dog to hold a down stay while you pet the one on the couch. Then reverse the dogs. It may take two people at first to work your dogs. After a while, you might be able to do it by yourself.
If they have neutral or positive interactions with each other, I would click/praise and treat for acceptable behavior. I would also do 2 minutes of sits and downs 3 x daily to give your dogs a sense of working for leadership rather than feeling responsible for it themselves. Keep me posted on your progress. Remember first rule, always keep dogs on leash so that they are controlled and no one gets hurt or injured.
December 7th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
My fiance and I have two 1yr old male pitbull, bulldog and austrailian shephard mixes (Tank and Scout) and one 2yr old male pitbull, bulldog, rotweiller, german shephard, chow mix (Chief). They all have the same mother just different litters a year apart. The younger two have been around the 2yr old since they were 4 weeks old.
They have always gotten along and played with one another without any incidents. Within the last several months they have been in 3 fights. Chief is included in every fight. Tank and Scout usually instigate though. They never bite necks they usually just lock their jaws or go for muzzles.
The last fight they had, I heard them play fighting then it changed to not so playful. By the time I went to back of house where they were, Tank had left small bite marks on Chief’s face and muzzle and Chief had Tank pinned on the ground with just his front paws on him. After they saw me they both went back into their houses like nothing happened.
It scares me half to death when it happens. We’re at the point that we chain them up to help prevent another fight from happening. We hate doing this and want to find a way to get them to get along so they don’t have to be confined.
Will getting all 3 of them fixed eliminate any future aggression or can it not be guaranteed?
December 7th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
I have 2 dogs that came from the same litter both are female they both are spayed. We have to keep them seperated from each other or they fight. What would I beable to do so they would get along and not growl and fight with each other.
December 15th, 2009 at 4:09 am
I have 2 golden retrievers and 2 shih tzus. I adopted my golden retriever at 2 years old, and she is known to be very aggressive when it comes to food. Shes goes into her aggressive mood and starts barking, bearing her ferocious teeth.
Just today, my 2 year old golden retriever attacked my 4 year old golden retriever. Usually this happens once a month, but then my dogs always end up loving each other again.
I KNOW that food triggers my 2year golden retriever’s aggression, so I finds things to avoid this situation.
But I was just wondering if it is normal for multiple dogs in a household to get into fights.
December 16th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Shelby: No, multiple dogs in a household should not be fighting. You need to start working on your golden’s food aggression issues and you need to start putting more structure and leadership into your home with your dogs. Both dogs must understand that you run the show, not them.
December 22nd, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Hi Jim,
I have a 1 year old German Shepherd/Huskie mix and a 1 1/2 year old Lab/Pointer mix that are both females. The lab mix has been the dominant in the house since we got the shepherd seven months ago and they both have gotten along great in that time. The shepherd has always been closer to me and the lab closer to my wife but recently, they both have been growling and fighting with each other.
After reading up on it, it seems the Shepherd is trying to become dominant so the the last few days my wife and I have been praising, petting and feeding the lab mix first and making the shepherd wait. Granted, it’s only been three days but the shepherd seems to be upset by this and the fighting hasn’t stopped yet. I figured it takes some time but I was wondering if there are any other tips we can work with on preventing them from fighting. When they do fight, we put a broom in between them to divert their attention and the shepherd runs away. We never hit them or grab them when they are fighting.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you for your time,
Jason
December 28th, 2009 at 1:59 am
Hi Jim,
I have 2 female Rotts (litter mates) almost 2 years old now both intact. Since I got them one has always shown somewhat aggressive dominance over the other. Almost daily they get into ‘fights’…. always initiated by one. If the other gets significant or sole attention, barks for more than a few seconds or gets too excitable while playing with any family member (e.g. jumping around or snapping to reach a toy) she fights her. They NEVER fight over food or possession of toys. All of their fights end in less than 5 seconds and look more like some form of correction…snarling and a few throaty barks always standing with her paw/s over the other’s shoulder. She has never drawn blood or caused the other pain. Sometimes after the fight the ‘victim’ stares at her and sort of follows her around in a challenging way …it either ends in growling and eventually the aggressor walks away or face/ear licking…usually the latter. During these fights she often blatantly ignore my commands to stop. They love water, especially being splashed so the whole bucket of water thing does not faze them in the least. I usually do not intervene in these fights and I know it’s strongly unadvisable but once or twice when fed up I have reached in and gently pulled the aggressor off. ..the fight just ends and the both act as though nothing happened… but I still don’t like to take the risk of parting dog fights. They also love to play-fight and this is often initiated by the ‘victim’. Play-fights never turn sour and are clearly different from this sort of …dominance display? They also only fight when humans are around. I do not like these displays because someone is always in close proximity and may be bitten…even though they are extremely loving and gentle otherwise I feel that leaving them to work things out was clearly the wrong approach as after almost 2 years they are still doing this. These displays annoy the entire family and scare those who don’t know them well. Do you have any suggestions?
January 5th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Amee and CeeJay are One year old and they are my STRESS RELIEVER,but Amee loves to fight. I was very instrumental in my city getting our first dog park…Amee and Ceejay had to leave because Amee’s fighting. Help me!
January 19th, 2010 at 4:18 am
We have 2 dogs – a male Jack Russel mix and a female mixed breed. The male (Sylvester) is about 10 years old and Bree (female) about 4yrs. They have been together for about 2.5 years and have always got on well. Recently they spent 2 weeks at a relatives house while we were on holiday. Just before they were due to come home Bree attacked Sylvester and had him in such a throat grip our relatives had to physically separate them. They came home and after a few days seemed to be back to their usual close relationship. However last night Bree attacked Sylvester again, shaking him quite viciously. We are not quite sure what triggered these attacks. The first one we think could have happened because the dogs got an awful ammout of attention even being fed together.Last night happened just after the neighbours dogs started barking and our dogs ran outside to see what was going on. Please can you help as I really don’t want to have to give either of them away to sort out the situation.